`require': no such file to load — mkmf (LoadEr

Question

I was trying to install rails on Ubuntu Natty Narwhal 11.04, using ruby1.9.1.

I installed ruby using apt-get install ruby1.9.1-full which contains the dev package. I googled the error and all have suggested I install the 1.9.1-dev which I already have.

Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing rails:
    ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

        /usr/bin/ruby1.8 extconf.rb
extconf.rb:36:in `require': no such file to load -- mkmf (LoadError)
    from extconf.rb:36


Gem files will remain installed in /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/bcrypt-ruby-3.0.1 for inspection.
Results logged to /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/bcrypt-ruby-3.0.1/ext/mri/gem_make.out

Answer 1

This is the answer that worked for me. Was in the comments above, but deserves its rightful place as answer for ubuntu 12.04 ruby 1.8.7

sudo apt-get install ruby-dev
# if above doesnt work make sure you have build essential
sudo apt-get install build-essential

Answer 2

The problem is still is recursive on Ubuntu 13/04/13.10/14.04

and

sudo apt-get install ruby1.9.1-dev

worked out for me okay. So If you are using Ubuntu 13.04/13.10/14.04 then using this will really come in handy.

This works even if ruby version is 1.9.3. This is because there is no ruby1.9.3-dev available in the Repository...

Answer 3

After some search for a solution it turns out the -dev package is needed, not just ruby1.8. So if you have ruby1.9.1 doing

sudo apt-get install ruby1.9.1-dev

or to install generic ruby version, use (as per @lamplightdev comment):

sudo apt-get install ruby-dev

should fix it.

Try locate mkmf to see if the file is actually there.

Answer 4

I also needed build-essential installed:

sudo apt-get install build-essential

Answer 5

You can use RVM(Ruby version manager) which helps in managing all versions of ruby on your machine , which is very helpful for you development (when migrating to unstable release to stable release )

or for Linux (ubuntu) go for sudo apt-get install ruby1.8-dev

then sudo gem install rails to verify it do rails -v it will show version on rails

after that you can install bundles (required gems for development)

Answer 6

I got the similar error when install bundle

sudo apt-get install ruby-dev

Works great for me and solve the problem Mint 16 ruby1.9.3